Handling hot chillies

I read with mixed feelings Afif's entry in his blog. See Afif's blog entry. Like, I told you so... that you must learn to cook before you go live on your own. Poor Afif, maybe by cooking himself he will reduce his size and it would be better for him. His doctor wanna be friends would be so happy!

Well, Afif, you will slowly learn.Learning means you have to experiment and find out what suits you best. Mama cannot be with you at this time but I can give you tips and pointers.

Anyway, someone commented that the dried chillies (that is cili kering) in Sheffield were made from bird chillies. That is why it is very hot. To make sure that it is not too hot to handle, you should use only a little of the chillies when you cook, maybe try half a tablespoon when cooking for two. You then add some tomato sauce or tomato puree to tame the hotness of the chilli. Add a little tomato sauce at a time and see the difference in taste.When using tomato puree you may need to add a little sugar.

If ever your chillies turn out to hot for your taste buds, don't despair. Just add a little sugar, chopped onions, tamarind juice and tomato sauce/tomato puree.Always add a little of each and work yourself up until you get the right combination.

I wonder if Afif added sugar and tamarind juice in his red sauce. If he did not, it would have resulted in a very hot sauce. If tamarind juice is not available you can add vinegar in its place. You can also try adding half of a finely chopped cooking apple. The sour apple would make a refreshing difference in the sauce.

Keep on trying, Afif.

Making accompanying sauces for soups/fried noodles

This simple sauce is eaten with soups; (as in soto), fried vermicelli, fried flat noodles(koay teow) or fried yellow noodles.You can also serve with rice porridge. It makes the food taste better.

Black Sambal Sauce ingredients:


Bird chillies (cili padi)and garlic cloves pounded coarsely and mixed with black sweet soya sauce,and sugar to taste.(Omit the garlic if you don't fancy raw garlic.)
You may add lime juice or vinegar, only if you prefer.I think it tastes better without these sour ingredients.

Sugar too may be omitted if the soya sauce is already sweet.

More on chillies and making sambal belacan

Chillies come in different colours and sizes. The smaller the chilli the hotter it is. For dried chillies, the redder ones are hotter.

I have very high respect for chillies. When I was small, my grandma used to scare us with trashing our lips with bird chillies if we utter a rude or swear word. Up to today, you hardly hear me swear even when my grandma is no longer around to press those chillies on my lips!

I have high respect for chillies not because of its ability to prevent swearing but more on the effects on the tummy after consuming it. However, one may tend to swear if one gets an upset stomach due to taking a lot of chillies. All chillies must be properly cooked if made into sambal or curries. The seeds must be removed as it is the seeds that could be the culprits.

Bird chillies when made into pounded raw sambal with prawn paste (belacan) must be properly washed and only fresh ones are used. One tip handed down from my grandma is to pound the bird chillies together with the stalks that hold the fruit. In this way the 'hotness' is reduced. If using fresh red chillies for sambal, I would remove the seeds before pounding. But for bird chillies, that may be a bit difficult.

The right combination of other ingredients in the sambal (belacan, and tamarind or lime juice or sour fruit such as unripe mango) would  determine its degree of 'hotness'. I normally do not add salt to raw sambal belacan as the belacan is already salty. I also do not add sugar. What is the point of eating sambal if it is sweet. Personally, I think a sambal would only have the oomph if it has a certain degree of 'hotness'. I would however use cool boiled water to squeeze the tamarind juice. As with everything, food must be prepared in clean utensils and a clean kitchen to prevent the food from causing upset tummies. The same goes for sambal belacan. More so when it is not cooked. I have said this often enough.

Steaming Siakap- Malay style

(image from Google images)

On my recent trip to my hometown, I learn a new way to steam Siakap (Sea Perch). I have always followed the manner the Chinese steam the fish from my trips to most restaurants in Malaysia. But the way my aunt steamed the fish is simple and very traditional as she used sliced serai (lemon grass), halia (ginger) and turmeric leaves (daun kunyit) with a dash of salt and a squeeze of lime. Tastes great with fresh siakap or any fresh meaty fish.

It never crossed my mind to steam siakap in this way although I had steamed crabs before using the same ingredients.

Steaming is a better and healthier alternative to boiling or frying, anytime.

If you cannot find lemon grass and turmeric leaves, don't despair. You can aways change the recipe and use whatever local herbs are available. If I were in England, France or Italy, I would try using oregano, spring onions, chives or thyme. Then the fish would not be siakap and the dish is longer a Malay traditional steam fish!

Making Chilli Paste

In Malay cooking, a lot of chillies are used.Chillies are added to food to make it hot and to give a beautiful tinge to the food. The amount of chillies used depend on one's own taste. If you cannot stand the 'hotness' you can use less chillies. Some people add a lot of sugar to counter the 'hotness'. I would, however, use less chillies and hence, less sugar instead.

I prefer to make my own chilli paste. Buying fresh cili boh as it is called in Malaysia is an option for those in a hurry. Doing so would put you at risk of an upset tummy if your tummy is a sensitive one. You see, the chillies are not seeded and maybe uncooked prior to blending them to a paste in commercially- made cili boh.The place where the cili boh is made may also not be clean.

As most dried chillies are mixed with certain impurities and packed with preservatives, it is best that you select the good ones and discard gunny sack threads or small stones,if found.

To make the cili boh, the chillies are first cut into small strips with a pair of kitchen scissors.I do not use a knife as it is easier with scissors and my fingers are not in direct contact with the chillies.

Making chilli paste (cili boh) is not too difficult.After cutting the dried chillies, place them in a colander and shake of the seeds through the sieve.Wash the chillies in a bowl and drain using the colander. Next you need to boil the chillies in freshly filtered water in a small pot. Boiling would get rid of any germs present and straining the water would reduce any preservative left in the chillies.When the chillies are cooled, you sieve and drain off the water using the colander again.

Then, you need to place them, a bit at a time in a liquidiser and add filtered water of cool boiled water before blending. Do not attempt to place the whole amount you want to liquidize at one time in the liquidizer as it be more difficult to blend. After several additions of chillies to the blender, voila! you now have your own cili boh.

Bottle them up in empty, dry and clean jam or spaghetti sauce jars. You can use plastic containers but they stain after some time. Store your cili boh in the refridgerator. Keeps best for 2 weeks. Do not prepare too much as it would not be too healthy to keep it too long, even in the fridge. If you want to preserve in longer put small packs in the freezer.

You can also make chilli paste from fresh red chillies. But if for some reason you cannot find fresh or dried chillies you would have to resort to using powdered chillies instead. You have to be careful when using chilli powder as it tends to be hotter as the seeds have been pulverized with the chillies.You therefore need to use very little of the powder when cooking.

To add bulk or volume to your gravy dish, you may add chopped onions or tomatoes when using chilli powder to make curries or sambal.

Anyway, a newbie cook like my son Afif, (who was never interested to be in the kitchen) would have to experiment and find out for himself how much chillies to use that suits him best.

The same applies to putting salt and sugar or tamarind/vinegar in the dish. Always start with a little and work yourself up.

When you have mastered how much to put it, then the aroma from your cooking will tell you whether it is delicious or too sour/salty/sweet.You then would not need to taste the food while cooking. Well....that will take a lot of experience to reach to that stage.

Meanwhile, one has to start somewhere.

Happy trying.

Empty Nest Soon

A lot has happened this year.Eldest daughter, Nurul started her national service in June. She was appointed to the post of Vector Control Officer by the Ministry of Health and she is now posted in Kuantan in the state of Pahang. She is now officially chasing mosquitoes, rats,and other disease-carrying agents.

Daughter, Zayye got betrothed on 8th of August and we are now busy preparing for her big day early next year.

Son, Afif has flown to Sheffield, UK, on 20th September to start his new life as a foreign student. He joins his brother as a foreign student only that Ikmal is in Bangalore, India pursuing his medical studies.

Youngest daughter, Zaty is busy preparing for her final South Australian Matriculation exams in November, 2009.She has obtained a conditional offer from the University of Newcastle, Australia but is hopeful that she gets another offer from the University of Adelaide to pursue her medical degree.

Once Zaty goes to Australia and Zayye is safely married, there would be only the two of us at home. I hope I would not suffer from the 'empty nest' syndrome.The nest has been empty off and on since the children started going to boarding schools, one after the other. However, I would look forward to trips to visit them. I would then take the opportunity to check on them and give tips on how to adapt and lead a healthy lifestyle.

Adopting a healthy lifestyle from young is the best way to stay healthy.By now, they should know that a well balanced diet is the way to go. I just hope that they would not be too lazy to prepare balanced meals and not just stick to easy to prepare fast frying foods which are bad for their health in the long term.

Remember that diseases like hypertension, diabetes and heart disease take years to develope and once you hang on you, you cannot shake them off easily. Thus 'Prevention is better than cure'.

Zaty was worried that Afif would not be able to fend for himself on his own. So far, Afif has been referring to this blog to prepare his meals with a few adaptations.I wish Afif the best. I hope he prepares small portions for himself and not cook too much as per each recipe. You see, a cook needs to apportion and be able to calculate just enough ingredients so as not to cook too much. If cooking for one person, you need to divide the ingredients by 4, if the original recipe is for 4 persons. Or you can cook for 2, (dividing by 2) and keep in the freezer half of what you cook, to be eaten at a later time.

I hope Afif does not cook too much and end up with more weight than he could bear. Alternatively, Afif must join the gym or any sports club. As his flat is just across the road from his Engineering department, Afif would need to work out regularly to shed out the excess weight.